Home Is Where The Heart Is
by rockababy
Summary: Jace and Clary are brother and sister living with their father in New York. Their mother died when they were young, under suspicious circumstances. The Uprising has not happened yet. Clary and Jace don't love each other yet, doesn't comply with books.
1. Back to School

**Home is Where the Heart Is**

**Summary: Jace and Clary are brother and sister living with their father Valentine in New York. Their mother died when they were young, under suspicious circumstances. The Uprising has not happened yet but Valentine is planning. There is no Circle, and he is using the help of demons. **

**Chapter One:**

Clary's alarm blared into her peacefulness, dragging her out of sleep and bringing with it the reality of the real world. She rubbed her eyes with fisted hands, removing the signs of slumber. Sleepily she made her way to her closet and extracted the ever familiar St. Clarence's uniform- a white button down shirt and plaid green skirt for the girls and dark green trousers for the boys.

She dressed slowly making sure every button was buttoned up perfectly and that there were no creases in either her shirt or her skirt. Then she took the clothes in her hands and scrunched them up in her balled fists, before letting them go and rolling up the edge of her skirt so that it wasn't too obviously above school regulation, wanting to keep some integrity. It was as if she believed that holding out on going to breakfast would put off the inevitable fact that summer was officially over and school was starting up again.

She looked at herself in the mirror, a slight frown almost noticeable on her face. She didn't quite understand how she had become the person looking back at her from the glass. Nor was she sure that the girl she saw in front of her was the girl that she wanted to be, she was always more comfortable in sweatpants than in a miniskirt. Bringing her thoughts back to earth she shook her head. She wasn't about to drop what had made her who she was now, alpha-female extraordinaire. Girls wanted to be her and guys wanted to get in her pants, not that any had succeeded-yet.

She slipped on her black school shoes and thumped down the stairs, stopping abruptly when she reached the kitchen door. Sitting at the table was her brother, Jace, although you wouldn't know it if you looked at the two. Clary had striking red hair and fair features and the grace and slightness of a ballet dancer, whereas Jace was gold all over, hair a brilliant yellow and his skin had a permanently bronzed glow to it, and although he too was very graceful he exuded a strength that was noticeable by everyone. Appearance was only one of the differences between them, another being that although Clary had never had sex Jace had slept with most of the female population at their school.

When Jace saw Clary he smirked, and the temporary paralysis left her as she stomped into the kitchen, scowling at Jace and remembering another reason as to why she had dreaded the summer ending.

Clary had spent her whole summer lying on a beach in Florida, dosing on the sand, soaking up the sun and slowly becoming unbelievably bored. Her brother however had been jetted off to Idris for an intensive, whole summer long training course. He was the only one out of the two siblings that was allowed to go, and no matter how hard she had tried to persuade her father to let her train too he refused. Both siblings had the same Marks; both had a stele and the same training, and normally went on training excursions together, but not this time. Clary normally got on well with her brother, but ever since finding out about this special treatment she had started resenting him. Or at least she tried to; it was hard with Jace being Jace. She had dreaded seeing him again because it reminded her of how her father had adamantly refused to let her train and that she actually missed her brother, as they normally spent the whole summer together. However she would never admit this.

She sat down across from him at the table, and returned his smirk with a cool, indifferent look.

''So, how was the party last night, I am assuming that you don't want me telling dad that his little girl was out till three a.m. at some party, possibly doing drugs and having sex?' Jace asked staring at his nails as if they were more interesting than the look on her face was when he said this.

Her face betrayed the shock that she was feeling, and how much that comment put her on edge,

''You wouldn't ..." she almost whispered, knowing full well that he would. When she said this he looked up at her, his eyes boring into hers, and appearing to read her soul, an unnerving ability that he had been doing for ever. She shivered under his gaze, the hairs on her neck standing up. She closed her eyes for a moment, and opened them to see him staring back at her, his face like stone, unblinking, although the smirk that previously sat on his face was now hiding behind his eyes, laughing at Clary.

''Now sister dear, you know I would do anything to keep you from getting hurt, even if it means telling daddy about your midnight gallivanting.'' His smirk had now returned to his lips and Clary's body tensed, recognising the veiled threat beneath Jace's _kind_ words.

He leant back in his chair, his hands supporting the back of his head, reminding Clary of the family's pet cat, who, having caught a bird, would toy with is endlessly before putting it out of its misery. Maliciousness and spite seemed to just grow wherever her father could be found, whether it was between his two children or in his cat.

As if some omnipotent power had read her mind, her father came treading silently through the kitchen door, his grace and silence uncharacteristic for a man with his size, his body dressed smartly in a suit. Neither of the children knew quite what their father did, except that every day he would drive to an office building near the Hudson River, and would come home again after dark. His profession was never discussed and when someone asked they said that he worked for the government, this technically being the right answer, he did work for the government, just not the government that everyone assumed it to be.

Jace turned to their father, and, before Clary realised and could stop what he was doing, blurted out,

''Father, I think Clary has something to tell you.'' Clary paled, knowing that if her father found out where she had gone the previous night she would end up lunder house arrest, having other Shadowhunters come in and home school her.

''Yes Clarissa?'' asked her father, the scowl on his face telling her he wasn't in a good mood. Clary's stomach fluttered and Jace's smirk grew wider, if that was possible.

''I...uh...'' she stammered, panicking in her mind for something to say, ''we are out of cereal.'' She quickly grabbed the empty box and held it up, her heart beating loud enough that she was sure it would tip him off about the lie. His face slackened and he nodded, before brushing the statement off and glancing at his watch.

''You two better hurry up, I wouldn't look good if you were late on the first day back to school.'' Behind their father Jace rolled his eyes, and Clary agreed with him for once. Their father had never been worried about their education and schooling; he just didn't like a situation in which he as the head of the family would be looked down upon. Plus, both Clary and Jace knew that if they wanted to be on time they would have had to leave twenty minutes ago, and that school would be starting in ten minutes. Valentine probably knew this as well but was trying to act the good father. Jace stood up and grabbed his books that had been sitting next to him on the table during breakfast, and said to Clary,

'' If you want a ride you better come now.'' With a two fingered salute to their father he walked out the door without looking back. Clary jumped up, and grabbing the half-eaten toast off of Jace's plate kissed their father on the cheek and scurried off to meet Jace in the car.


	2. You Did Not Just Say That!

**Home is Where the Heart Is**

**Summary: Jace and Clary are brother and sister living with their father Valentine in New York. Their mother died when they were young, under suspicious circumstances. The Uprising has not happened yet but Valentine is planning. There is no Circle, and he is using the help of demons. Before CoG- doesn't comply with the books.**

**AN: Jace and Clary go to a mundane school. **

**AN: Sorry I haven't updated in ages but I have had exams to prepare for, really important ones and my parents took away computer privileges to get me to study. **

**Chapter Two:**

Having pulled up to the school's front gates to see no one around them, they quickly jumped away from each other and skipped up the steps to the front door and sprinted to their corresponding classrooms. To her dismay, right before Clary entered hers she heard Jace call out to her,

'See you later, sexy'. Clary blushed, and did her best to scowl at Jace, while he turned around and walked at a leisurely pace towards his own classroom. She took a deep breath, trying to block Jace and his insufferableness out of her mind while she came up with something to tell the teacher.

Grimacing she walked in, although she may not follow the dress code to the letter, she hated being late, and having to do first the walk of shame over to her teacher's desk, and then down the aisles of chairs until she got to her seat. Slowly, and with a faked air of confidence that she had perfected over the years she made her way over to her smug looking teacher with a bored look on her face.

She stood in front of her and waited while Miss Munroe made a tsking noise and tapped her pencil on her arm; ready to make the girl she had hated for years a scapegoat, yet another reason for her to detest Jace. Had he not made the teacher's life miserable in only one year then maybe Clary would have had an easier time in her class. _Don't think about Jace, you will only start down a track that you don't want to end up on, or be on, ever, _she reprimanded herself, and almost shook her head in order to clear the thoughts travelling through her mind.

'Miss Morgenstern, we aren't getting off on the best start to the year, are we?' Clary shook her head, trying not to make a childish face at the teacher that refused to give her an ounce of respect, and it was all because of Jace. She was beginning to see a pattern in her life.

No? Well then you will just have to make sure that you change my view during detention tonight.' Then Miss Munroe smiled a heartless, cold smile that told Clary that this was going to be the worst year ever.

The bell rang signifying the end of morning classes and the beginning of lunch, where the only people who you had to answer to were your peers. It was much, much worse. Most teens spend their lunch breaks sitting and laughing with their friends, all the while wondering who was critiquing their outfit, or who was talking about how so and so wound up waking next to so and so after last night's party. From the outside it looked like harmless teens, going about their day happily, but on the other side of the fence every single one of those kids was sitting through enough stress to give them all nervous breakdowns by the time they were twenty. Ah, the joys of high school.

Clary was walking slowly towards the cafeteria doors with her best friend, Adelaide, a girl who never seemed to be without a smile, even when the world was crashing down around her ears. Adelaide calmed Clary, which she was always grateful for, especially now that she and Jace were on a rocky ledge right now. They were talking amiably about their summers, and how there had been a lack of excitement on both ends. They were in the middle of this conversation when a solid shoulder rammed into her from behind, almost knocking her over. She righted herself and looked up into Jace's eyes, the obvious mirth in them making Clary angrier by the second.

'Whoops! Sorry Sis, didn't see you their' he said coolly, but with a faint trace of laughter visible in his eyes, before beginning to walk away and into the crowd teeming with students. However she pulled him back before he got too far away from her.

Her blood was boiling and she clenched her fists, making little semi circles on her palm so as to not run after Jace and attack him in front of the whole school. This, however, would unfortunately not please the headmaster. However much he _hated_ Jace he didn't condone any violence and would consequentially call her father. That would NOT be a good thing.

Instead she put all the hatred she could into one glare and narrowed her eyes at his cocky face.

'Whoa there Sis, don't go ruining your face with frown lines, it's all you have!'

Steam was practically coming out of Clary's ears by now and it took all her will power and Adelaide's strength to keep her from jumping at him, she would deal with the consequences later, if only she could see that smirk slapped off of his arrogant face!!

'Leave it Clary, he's not worth it.' Amelia tried to persuade Clary to move along, but the girl appeared to have grown roots for no matter how hard Amelia pulled Clary wouldn't move.

'You ...cocky, rude, arrogant, self-centred bastard of a prick!! You deserve whatever you get in life!!' Clary was fuming, he hadn't made her this mad in ages, but all of his previous comments were still smarting, not to mention the whole Clary-alone-for-the-summer debacle.

'What, hot sex and chicks falling all over me? Yeah I definitely deserve that.' If it was possible Jace's smirk seemed to grow even wider and more mocking, which wasn't helping Clary's mood. Her blood was boiling, singing at her to just take one punch, that was all that was needed and she would be happy to give it to him. Her resolve was hardening and before she knew it she was throwing her arm back and then forwards into his face. She felt her fist being grabbed by Jace's hand, with an almost lazy attitude, displaying the fact that it took minimal effort to stop the attack. That one move made Clary feel defeated, but she wouldn't let it show and so leaned into Jace and said,

'Just remember, Dad loves me best...' and walked away, giving one last look over her shoulder at Jace, who's face had shut down, and she could feel the anger rolling off of him, his smirking face gone.

She knew that she had taken a low shot, digging at one of the things that she knew he was insecure about, their father's feelings towards them. He had revealed this information to her one night years ago when there had been a storm and their father was out of town, prompting Clary to go to Jace's room. They stayed up all night hiding from the thunder and lightning, revelling in the absence of their father who would have told them to knock it off and go back to sleep, they weren't babies and he hadn't raised them softly.

Walking away she felt miserable about it, knowing that he probably wouldn't talk to her for at least three days, but she shook it off and sat down with her friends, and only the Clary deep down inside of her would admit to being worried if she had ruined their relationship


	3. The Dream

**Home is Where the Heart Is**

**Summary: Jace and Clary are brother and sister living with their father Valentine in New York. Their mother died when they were young, under suspicious circumstances. The Uprising has not happened yet but Valentine is planning. There is no Circle, and he is using the help of demons. Before CoG- doesn't comply with the books.**

**AN: Jace and Clary go to a mundane school. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mortal Instruments, depressing as that may be. **

**Chapter 3:**

Clary's mood was still raw when she returned home that afternoon, her temper still burning even though it had had the chance to cool. Truth be told she wasn't as angry as she had been before, no, not quite that much, but she still held her wall of frustration up, knowing that she didn't want to feel the emotions when it came down.

The rest of the school day had not gone particularly well, Jace had ignored her every time that they had passed in the hallway, not even looking at her, just staring straight ahead. That sight almost broke her. She would give anything to have him happy again. God! Even that wretched smirk was better than the cold, harsh front that was currently being exhibited upon his face. She had seen him with his friends, guys of the same cockiness and conceit as Jace, and even then he had made no effort to be happy, only shrugged them off when they asked what was up. They dropped it after that, yeah, they weren't the kind of guys to get involved with each others' feelings.

Every time I look at him I feel that familiar pain coming back to gloat at me. _Yes I got what I wanted, Jace has backed off, but have I damaged more than I can repair this time?_ As soon as she thought this, Clary immediately reprimanded herself. Jace had been hurting her, more than she had maybe let on, and he deserved what she had said to him. If he isn't prepared to deal with the consequences of his mocking then he should learn to stop teasing her. No, Clary wasn't going to feel sorry for Jace, not at all.

Well that resolve lasted for five minutes when Jace walked through the door. She was surprised that she had made it home before him, as she had just made it out of the front doors at the school when she had seen Jace speed off in his car, leaving her to beg a ride off of Adelaide. She had expected him to be already home, hiding in his room and giving her death glares every time that he had to see her. But he entered the house now, slamming the door behind him in a way that indicated he was still angry as hell. Outwardly Clary showed no emotion but inside she was shrinking back into herself as she saw firsthand again the damage she had caused with a few simple words.

Their father didn't come home that night, not something they weren't used to but it mean that there was nothing to diffuse the hostility between the two. If their father had been there he would have instantly seen the strange behaviour exhibited by his children and would have told them to grow up and sort out their differences because they were always going to be sibling and there was nothing to do about it. His normal response to the occasions when his children disagreed.

But tonight the two were alone in the house and it showed in the way that their actions were stifled towards each other. They refused to eat dinner together and if they were ever in the same room the temperature seemed to drop dramatically and they exited the room as quickly as possible.

By the end of the evening any remorse that Clary had had for her actions had gone and all she felt towards Jace was the intense urge to strangle him, something that was extremely difficult to fight against. As she got into bed that night she was exhausted from the toll that feeling that much anger had taken on her body. She fell asleep as soon as she closed her eyes, and then dreaming overcame her.

_She was sitting in a chair, looking out into the night, her eyes showing signs of fatigue but also a fire. She was all dressed in black, and her insides were cold. She just sat there staring into space and trying to forget the unfortunate occurrences that her simple words brought. It had been a year since she and Jace had stopped talking and now they would never talk again. The year they had lived in unforgiving silence had been one of the worst experiences in her life and she was still feeling the repercussions even though it was all over. Everything was over._

_Her father came out onto the porch that she was sitting on, dressed just like her all in black, his normally solemn face slightly deformed with grief, and you could see the dried tear tracks that ran down the length of his face. _

_He handed her a glass of hot chocolate and she looked down into the swirling drink almost as if it would hold the answers to what she should do next, could do next. She heard her father sigh from behind her and turned around to face him, her face asking the question that she was too afraid to voice. Her father caught sight of the look on her face and was immediately filled with grief. _

'_It wasn't your fault'. Those few words undid her and she started crying uncontrollably, afraid of the pain that she was feeling. Her father pulled her tight towards him and she could feel rather than hear the sobs that were coming out of him. She pulled herself away from her father and ran up to her room. She opened up her diary and flipped back a few pages, reading the entry for June 20__th__._

'_Dea-_

'_I can't do it. If I can barely _write_ this, how am I going to explain to my father that it is all my fault, that the reason for what has happened was a few angry words? I know it is my fault. After IT happened I was in Jace's room and found a note addressed to me in that careless scrawl. It read 'You always said Dad loved you more, so now it is just the two of you'. _

'_I can't write anymore the police are here to investigate.'_

_She flipped towards a new page and wrote down, without any introduction:_

_July 4__th__: Funeral Service for Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern. _

Clary sat up straight in her bed, gasping for air as she wrenched herself out of her dream, the dream where her actions caused the worst possible outcome. She hadn't realised how much she had hurt Jace or how deep the hurt could run, but was it enough to cause Jace to kill himself?

She thought back to her dream and shuddered thinking about it, she couldn't take that chance, couldn't risk the thought of losing Jace forever. Sure they had their sibling differences and okay this one might have been taking it a little too far but she was going to mend it.

She got out of bed and crept across the hall, silently walking along the creaky floorboards, her socks muffling the sounds. She reached Jace's bedroom and opened the door a fraction too peek inside. He was sleeping soundlessly; she could barely hear his breaths. He wasn't moving either, something he always did and which Clary had never gotten used to. She tossed and turned all night but he went to bed and woke up in the same position. She tip-toed over to his bed and leant down next to his head, whispering in his ear:

'Jace, Jaaaaaaaace, wake up I need to talk to you'.

His eyes flittered open and he saw Clary kneeling there, wide-eyed and earnest and he felt his heart grow with the love he felt for his sister. Of course he showed nothing of this on the outside. He groaned and rolled over to face her.

Clary took a deep breath and prepared herself,

'Look Jace I am really sorry about what I said today, it was a slip of the tongue and completely not true. I only said it because I was mad at you, please understand that. I don't think that I could handle you being angry with me for much longer and I _really _don't want you to kill yourself so please, I am really sorry. Do you forgive me?'

When Clary had finished she was all out of breath having not stopped to take in air during her short speech, afraid that she wouldn't be able to get it all out.

Jace looked at her, staring hard as if contemplating or calculating what she had just said. After what seemed like the longest seconds of her life Jace groaned again and rolled over, motioning for Clary to get in with him. She smiled, knowing that she and Jace had reconciled and he wasn't going to kill himself, at least not because of her.


	4. Thanksgiving Preparations

**Home is Where the Heart is **

**Summary: Jace and Clary are brother and sister living with their father Valentine in New York. Their mother died when they were young, under suspicious circumstances. The Uprising has not happened yet but Valentine is planning. There is no Circle, and he is using the help of demons. Before CoG- doesn't comply with the books.**

**AN: Jace and Clary go to a mundane school. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mortal Instruments, nor do I own Lucky Charms. **

**Chapter 4:**

Weeks had passed since Jace and Clary had had their fight and everything was as normal as it could be in a household of two teenage Shadowhunters and one constantly MIA father. Their lives were going smoothly excepting the odd squabble about what to cook for dinner when dad was out of town.

Summer was leaving and Fall rolling into town with the leaves slowly turning brown and people were buying scarves and hats in preparation for the New York winter. It was mid-October, Clary's favourite time of year as she could already smell the pumpkin spice and burning wood that represented fall. Everyone seemed happier at this time of year as the sun was beginning to lower in the sky sending a warmer haze all over the Earth.

Clary was strolling about in Central Park with some friends from school, every single one of them in clothes that left them shivering in the air. Clary had never been one to notice the cold and this time was no exception, she seemed to be immune to it, but never the less she was cradling a cup of four dollar coffee in her hands akin to her friends, as if by doing this they were saved from the harsh wind permeating through their clothes.

She was daydreaming while they all chatted around her, oblivious to the fact that their friend wasn't participating in their talk about the schools most eligible bachelors. Clary was inside of her head, planning her and Jace's annual Dad's-not-here-but-we-will-try-to-make-the-best-of-it Thanksgiving dinner. She liked to be prepared early just in case their dad miraculously managed to show up on a holiday that he thought stupid and pointless. After all, it wasn't celebrated in the Shadowhunter community so therefore there was no reason in participating, it was a human festival and anything not associated with Shadowhunters was a waste of their father's valuable time.

Normally she stop by a grocery store or a butcher's about a week before Thanksgiving, knowing that any later and any chance of getting a turkey in would be gone. She brought it home and put it in the freezer until the night before, when they would remove it to the refrigerator to thaw out. The next morning Jace and Clary would spend the whole morning and afternoon cooking, they sweet potatoes with marshmallows, Jace had never had an affinity for them but due to Clary's almost ravenous consumption of the root vegetables he always remembered to purchase them, if only to be able to laugh at his sister with marshmallow all over her face. They also made green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy and of course they also when through the whole process of de-feathering turkey, extracting its guts (a job delegated to Jace who never seemed to be fazed by blood and gore), stuffing it and then the long and arduous task of checking the cooking timer stuck in the bird to make sure it wasn't over-cooked. They took both the morning and the afternoon doing these small tasks, joking and laughing with each other and often getting into all out food fights before remembering that if they ended up with too little ingredients then they wouldn't be able to cook anything and there was no way that they were going to be able to find anything open on Thanksgiving.

She was almost positive that their father would not be joining them on Thanksgiving as he always found work to do to be away from home on human festivals, as if the idea of something fully human was a gross and inappropriate thing. Even so she had to be ready for the possibility that he would indeed be home on Thanksgiving, and so made further plans to by an extra big turkey, they could always have turkey sandwiches if all else failed (1). She was caught up in her careful planning when her friends finally noticed her ill attention.

'Clary!' exclaimed Sarah, nudging her friend to bring her attention back to the conversation. Clary jolted, she had been extremely caught up in her preparations for this year's Thanksgiving and therefore upon realising that the conversation had turned to where everyone was jetting off to over the holidays replied with the generic answer,

'To my Grandmother's house.'

'Yes Clary you always go to your Grandmother's but never once have you ever told us where she lives.' Replied one exasperated friend named Nicole, and the others consented with nodding heads. Clary shrugged, but on the inside she was searching hastily for a suitable location for this imaginary Grandmother to live. She had no Grandmothers, at least none she had ever met, the whole idea of going to Grandma's house was only a cover for their father taking them to Idris. They went there every time they were out of school as their father liked to show them the 'homeland'. So, long ago Jace and clary decided to come up with the ruse of going to Grandma's in case someone asked where they were going. When they had been little they had even come up with a name for this Grandmother and other things like that she always had cookies ready for them whenever they arrived at her house. Of course as soon as Jace was old enough to deem this game immature Clary followed suite and gave it up to, but they had never come up with a place for their grandmother to live, probably because at the time their knowledge of geography was limited to their neighbourhood, so Clary decided that no was a good enough time for it. She scrambled in her mind for an area that was far enough away that no one would think of checking up on but not too far that they wondered why they always bothered going all the way there.

'She lives in, um, Virginia! Yeah, Virginia.' All the girls nodded at this answer as if it was something completely acceptable and Clary seeing this breathed a small sigh.

* * *

Clary soon left her group of friends making excuses about having to go home as she had two essays to write that night that should have been done weeks ago. It was a flimsy excuse as everyone there was in all of her classes and would have known about any assignments but it was just a testament to how little her friends thought about school. In reality she just felt like getting away from it all, and being at her own comfortable house, 'debating' with Jace about whose turn it was to do the dishes that night even though they both knew they would end up doing it together.

She opened her front door quietly, as if afraid to disturb some unknown being. She could hear Jace in the kitchen, riffling through the cabinets for something to eat, he was always hungry. She walked into the kitchen and leaned on the open door frame, smiling to see Jace standing there with a half-eaten slice of left over pizza shoved down his throat. He stopped upon seeing her before mumbling, with food stuffed into his mouth,

'What?' Although at the time it had sounded more like 'Mwa?'

She laughed at Jace before skipping over to the refrigerator to pour herself a drink, she sighed with contentment. She turned around to be met with a look of scepticism from Jace.

'What happened to you? Find out that the Lucky Charms convention (2) is coming to town and is giving away free marshmallows?'

She laughed again before shaking her head and replying the she was just in a really good mood. _An unusually good mood_ she added in her head but thought nothing about it. She looked up at Jace to see him nodding but still looking wary.

'I am going to take a shower, some stupid cab driver almost ran me over on the way home today and in doing so covered me in sludge and worm crap.'

She nodded her head, showing confirmation of having heard him before remembering something.

'Oh when you are done I want to talk about thanksgiving, I have some ideas for this year's turkey feast.'

Jace grunted in return heading up the stairs to the bathroom, while Clary sat down to write a list of all the supplies they would need from the grocery store, it never hurt to be ready too far in advance and it gave her something to do.

* * *

Half an hour later and Clary needed the toilet, not hearing the shower running she assumed that Jace had finished in the bathroom and so decided that it would be safe to enter. Upon reaching for the door handle though she found the door to swing open of its own account, and to be met with a half naked Jace. Unfortunately the propulsion of opening the door brought the two flush together and clary found her hands to come into contact with wet skin, and her chin hitting hard flesh. She was pressed up close to Jace and had she wanted to would have been able to feel all his able Shadowhunter's muscles taut and defined. Instead she quickly back-pedalled away from Jace, her head down to hide the blush that was slowly creeping up her neck and cheeks. Damn her red hair for only illustrating this annoying habit. She kept her head down as she ran (un)subtly back to her own room before closing the door behind her and letting out a breath she hadn't know she was holding. Her heart was beating at a mile a minute and her blush had only increased in size. She was perplexed as to her reaction to the situation. She had seen Jace topless many a time without feeling a thing, but now after having been pressed up against him with her hands on his chest she was acting crazy and couldn't understand it. _Must have been something bad I had eaten for lunch _she concluded, although the fluttering of her heart and stomach didn't leave immediately.

* * *

**(AN: One year my Mom bought a turkey WAY to big and for the next three weeks we were eating nothing but turkey, turkey sandwiches, turkey soup, even just plain (cooked) cold turkey stripped off the bone and put on a plate in front of us.)**

**(AN: I have no idea whether or not there is such a thing as a Lucky Charms convention but it suited the purpose.)**


	5. We Are Gonna Party Like It's 1999!

**Home is Where the Heart Is**

**Summary: Jace and Clary are brother and sister living with their father Valentine in New York. Their mother died when they were young, under suspicious circumstances. The Uprising has not happened yet but Valentine is planning. There is no Circle, and the truth hasn't come out yet. Before CoG- doesn't comply with the books.**

**AN: Jace and Clary go to a mundane school. **

**AN: I got a review saying that what I was writing was disgusting, nauseating and dysfunctional. I don't mind that they wrote this as your work is never going to be liked by everyone but what I want to know is if this person doesn't like Cassandra Clare's work then why did they not only read the books but read fanfiction based on the books? **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mortal Instruments, depressing as that may be.**

**Chapter 5:**

For a few days after what Clary had now dubbed the 'incident' in her mind, every time she saw Jace she could feel his skin under her hands and then the warming heat of a blush creeping up her neck. She had taken to wearing turtle-necks around the house or a thick sweater in case her unmistakable blush happened to appear. Luckily she could blame her new found admiration for the garment on an especially cold fall, plus it was a good excuse if she ever needed one for the slight extra coloring that was gracing her cheeks.

Jace hadn't seemed to notice anything strange about Clary since the night of the shower run-in and if he did he had the grace not to mention it. On second thought Clary knew that he hadn't noticed anything, if he had she would have known.

Clary was confused; she still couldn't quite get her mind around what had happened that night. She knew the facts, she and Jace had run in to each other as he had proceeded out of the bathroom. Wet. And naked, ok well half naked but still, naked. And then she had run away as if some little girl who had just knocked into her life-long crush. She didn't understand her course of action or the reason she had been so put off by the whole accident. What had been the reason behind her reaction, was it just sibling modesty and the idea that you and your siblings aren't meant to see of each other after a certain age, or was it something else?

This question perplexed her and she spent inordinate amounts of her free time thinking about it, so much so that her friends had commented on her dazed appearance. The Clary they knew went to parties all weekend long, while at the same time staying impeccably alert, they had never understood her alcohol toleration. She wasn't this girl that passed up invites to go feed her non-existent cat.

Clary could tell that they were wary of her new behaviour and so as not to have them worry she agreed to go shopping with them Friday after school. Homecoming wasn't too far away after all and it was a well known fact that even with her recent lack attendance to the social scene she was still a major contender for the Homecoming Court.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday flew by quickly and soon it was Friday and Clary was walking down the front steps of the school, bags stocked with phone, books, makeup and the necessary amount of money needed for any serious shopping.

She was about to text Jace and tell him to go ahead and eat dinner without her when she looked up and saw her leaning on his car, waiting for her. She ignored the flush that came to her cheek at the sight of him before wondering what he was doing still at school, all his friends had their own cars and it was well known that Jace would get out of school as quickly as possible, hating the place so much that he had left Clary behind on more than one occasion.

She walked over to him and got his attention by shoving him off of the car and onto the floor; of course it would have worked better had he not had such good reflexes. _Damn agility genes, why couldn't you have been bestowed upon me?_ Clary thought in despair, remembering countless of times when she had shamed herself in training by tripping over her own feet. Back in the present she silently cursed him for the ability to right himself as soon as she touched him.

'Sorry, I forgot to tell you earlier but I am going to the mall with Adelaide and some other friends, you can eat whenever, I will probably get something in the food court, I should be home by 7.'

Clary rushed out, knowing her friends, who all had massive crushes on Jace we probably behind her, salivating over him. When she looked at Jace's face she was surprised to see that he had apparently not been listening to her at all as his eyes were glazed over, almost as if looking over her shoulder, and there was a frown settling on his face. She glanced behind her but saw nothing but Max Keldware, a guy that she had 7th period English with. He caught her eyes and smiled, waving softly at her, she had always thought that he was cute in a puppy dog kind of way. She turned around to see Jace's frowning face had morphed into a slight glare, before she snapped her fingers in front of his face, drawing his attention back to their conversation.

'Jace? Jace! Hello?'

She almost shouted, before he looked down at her.

'Did you hear anything I said?'

She asked, starting to become annoyed at Jace for his complete lack of attention.

'Yeah, yeah, I heard, shopping, dinner, 7. Gotcha.'

He nodded before turning back to his car and getting in the driver's side. He quickly pulled away from the sidewalk and she barely had time to shout at him

'You're insufferable!' to him, which he promptly gave her a thumbs up, before he was gone and she was left there feeling annoyed, something that always happened after speaking to Jace.

She walked back over to her friends, and upon seeing the look on her face Clary's friend Jenny snorted,

'Only _you_ would get annoyed when talking to Jace, who is the HOTTEST person ever seen'.

'Well duh, he's my brother!' exclaimed Clary, who pretended to be scandalised at the thought, even though on the inside there was that little inkling of a voice telling her that she had to agree he wasn't ugly, but she pushed that aside, blaming it on her appreciation of the male sex in general. She pointedly chose to ignore the fact that she blushed _again_ at the thought of Jace.

'Let's go,' she commanded, trying to take the girls' attention away from their discussion of how if her brother didn't ask one of them out soon enough then they would absolutely _die._ 'If we want to get prime time shopping hours in then we have to be quick'. Her friends immediately switched tracks and began chatting about all that would be needed for the upcoming dance.

* * *

It was five hours later when Clary arrived home, laden with bags full of new clothes, accessories and shoes that she wouldn't even need for Homecoming, but that was the requisite for shopping with some of the most clothes obsessed people Clary knew. No matter how much she complained that she didn't need something or pouted saying that she hated it the forces working against her were too strong. Clary liked clothes well enough, they were certainly useful when getting what you wanted from people sometimes, and she always like looking nice, however she didn't need five pairs of the same shirt in different colors all because Amanda, Adelaide, Jenny, Stephanie and Laura hadn't been able to decide which color they liked the best.

She was exhausted now and when she walked into the living room she collapsed on the sofa, her eyes slowly closing, and she was almost asleep when she felt the space next to her sag a little bit and soft breathing on her cheek. It felt warm and she felt herself smiling when another cheek was pressed against hers. She was happy and relaxed further into the sofa and the person next to her, that was until she suddenly felt Jace pull her hair.

'OW!' she cried, her hands flying to the ponytail that he had just tried to rip off of her head. She looked over at Jace, seething as he sat there, laughing silently. She felt her eyes prick with tears, normally she wouldn't have been such a wimp but with Jace's Shadow Hunter increased strength and the fact that he had pulled _hard_ she was furiously trying to keep the tears back.

'WHAT THE HELL YOU IDIOT?!' she screeched, hoping that there was some way that she could physically over power Jace but knowing that it wasn't possibly she stuck with trying to burst his eardrums. Jace being Jace, however, he just smirked, but then a little of the amusement in his eyes left as he saw that he had hurt properly. The look in his eyes was now one of guilt and he slowly looked more and more ashamed, now when he looked at Clary he wasn't smirking anymore and that he seemed genuinely apologetic. Her own resolve softened as well and she sighed, frustrated with herself for the fact that she couldn't stay angry with Jace for long.

'It's alright, I guess I over reacted a little. But only a little, that still damn hurt. You owe me though.' she conceded, wincing while rubbing the back of her head. Jace smiled again and got up from the couch. He went over the hallway closet, reaching in and grabbing his coat.

'Where are you going?' Clary asked, her curiosity piqued at the sight of his black leather jacket that he only wore when out to impress girls, although he denied it vehemently, saying that he needed no other way to impress a girl than just to _be_, at which Clary had snorted.

'Out.' He replied, whereupon Clary gave him a _duh_ look. He sighed, giving into her, 'To a party at Nick's house, you know it's a 'we-survived-two-months-of-being-back-to-school-let's-all-get-smashed-and-have-sex-party', seniors only.' He added the last bit after seeing her curiosity levels go from 0 to 100 in seconds.

'You are taking me with you' she demanded, knowing that anything less and Jace would have laughed it off.

'No way! Do you know what bringing my little sister to a party would do to me reputation?' he seemed fittingly taken aback.

'I thought that you said that you were so amazing that didn't need to worry about your own reputation.' She fought. Jace snorted, while Clary carried on 'Besides Nick Haldcourt and I have a mutual _friendship_ after the summer, AND, YOU OWE ME!' When he still didn't look very persuaded she decided to change tactics and said, 'Well I could always ask someone else to take me, I mean Jake Green keeps on telling me that he has this fantasy of the two of us in the back of his car, yeah I think I will give him a call, he won't mind giving me a ride.' Jace raised an eyebrow up at this, before saying,

'Fine then, go whore yourself out, I don't care.' To which she quickly shot back,

'Then why were you glaring at Max this afternoon in the parking lot?' Jace snorted again while Clary took her turn to raise an eyebrow, mimicking Jace's blasé appearance. Jace just glared at Clary now, and she returned it with her own, there was a tense few moments of silence before Jace broke away and sighed,

'Fine.' Clary smiled triumphantly, before turning and running up the stairs to change,

'Give me ten minutes to get ready' she called down to him.

'Five! And consider us even!'

From upstairs in her room Clary just smirked, victory was sweat.

**(AN: Sorry sort of a filler chapter but next chapter will include more shadow hunter aspects of the books.)**

**(AN: I know some people have problems with incest but i will say to those people that they should finish reading the whole story before they pass judgement.)**

**Thanks, **

**rockababy.**


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